I don't know if being a Brownie for one year really counts as Girl Scout experience when all I can remember is a nature walk around a few city blocks and blowing a ping pong ball across a table until I was dizzy (addictive to a child like me)! My latest life experience is joining this amazing group in a professional capacity. My quest? I want to be part of the leadership journey in young girls' lives. NOW ... I am a Girl Scout!

Saturday, September 29, 2007

Even we grown up girls get a chance to play sometimes! This is my first time being part of "Go Van Gogh" which is usually a van packed up with art supplies and an agenda for some fun for the girls ... but it was held at our offices today. Even though I was exhausted to begin with, the event was fun and I learned LOTS of interesting things from listening to the girls. One quotable moment was that "Boys and men aren't always very nice, but they grow out of it."

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Pellets. Owl pellets. I learn a little something new every day with Girl Scouts. But who knew I'd be looking at little rodent skulls from owl regurgitation? WOW. When the "invitation" to see this little mystery came via email, it said "not for the faint of heart" and they were right! However ... little girls will be dissecting these at a weekend camp. You never know what learning experiences might crop up!

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

I love my job! Where else can I do this just to get some footage? I haven't watched it yet ... I might have been shaking more than I realized! As exciting as it was, it was a little scary, too! I wanted to get another camera out, but just couldn't bring myself to bend down while swaying in the breeze up there. I had to laugh, though. There was quite a long tail of papertowels stuck to the lift. Is that the equivalent of getting toilet paper on your shoe?

Sunday, September 16, 2007

Not everyone would think to keep a bag of soggy carrots around. At best they might end up in a compost pile. But this odd circumstance of the grocery escapee came at the opportune time ... we were about to go to camp! Instead of tossing the forgotten bag of carrots, I tossed them into the freezer in hopes of keeping them around until we could visit the horses at Core Camp.

You never know when you might have the chance to be part of something very special. Little M's friend for the weekend (Miss ML) stayed on a little later with us after camp was done. With the frozen carrots "burning" holes in our imaginary pockets, we couldn't wait to spend them on the horses. Pam picked us up and gatored us over to the riding arena. The girls jumped out ready for horse time ...

But young Miss ML was afraid. She had never fed a horse and was a little afraid of them altogether. Her brave heart reached out with a carrot, but as soon as a horse would approach, she would jump back. She tried and tried, but just couldn't bring herself to keep her hand steady and sure. I had her put her hand on top of mine and I showed her how to feed him. She was amazed! It still took a while, but after she got comfortable, she tried it on her own. A little more time and she had those horses literally eating out of her hand.

By the end of our time there, the half-frozen half-soggy carrots were long gone and the girls were running around harvesting grass with their bare hands and letting those horses slurp up every last blade. They looked like old pros. I don't know what was more magical ... watching a fear slowly melt into adventure or seeing how quickly girls can be trained by horses!

Friday, September 14, 2007

Today I had the pleasure of meeting Michael Wallis, author of Route 66 (and one of the voices on "Cars" as I was told). One of our Girl Scout troops is working on a project that involves Route 66 and the Sapulpa museum. The opportunity arose to participate in an interview with Mr. Wallis on KTUL Channel 8, right here in Tulsa. He was so impressed with the girls! After spending an hour together, he asked Kathryn, "Is this typical of Girl Scouts?" She bragged on the quality of our girls - especially the ones who stay with Girl Scouting into their high school years - how they are amazingly dedicated, capable and strong young women who are going to be great leaders. Mr. Wallis had some ideas to help the girls continue their project, so I am looking forward to hearing how this story develops!

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

"I have found that the best people to associate with are those who do two important things at the same time. They act as a mirror that reflects your good points while accepting you just as you are. They also expect excellence from you and continually encourage you to use your full potential. In other words, they see the good in you that sometimes you don't even see, and they tell you about it, often.

These are the people who bring out the greatness in others and these are the people you want to make a regular part of your life."